Pesticides play havoc with farmers’ lives

The sad death of farmers following the massive destruction of cotton crop has shaken the government out of inertia and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu himself admitted the failure of the agriculture department in assessing the gravity of the situation.

Officials of the agriculture department said “spodopetra” (a minor pest) was responsible for 50 per cent of the crop damage, while the dry spells and subsequent heavy rains had damaged the remaining crop. “It is incorrect to underplay the role of pesticides in the whole episode,” said a professor from the agricultural university.

According to him, most of the farmers have used either spurious or excessive pesticides or both in an unscientific manner.

“It is wrong to single out a particular wing or department. In fact, there is a nexus between indifferent agriculture officials and dealers of chemical pesticides. With the extension wing officials neglecting their duties, the field is open for dealers,” a senior official admitted to The Indian Express.

And, it is a saga of poverty and temptation. There has been a considerable change not only in the crop pattern, but also in the cultivation methods over the last 20 years in Warangal. Motivated by the latest farm techniques from the migrant coastal farmers, the locals too tried to emulate them.

“The two ill effects of modern farm methods was indiscriminate application of chemical fertilisers and disproportionate use of pesticides thus pushing up the cost of production, as well as exposing crops to a variety of pests and diseases.

“We have warned the farmers that the situation would go out of hand one day, when no amount of pesticides would help eradicate pests,” said a senior professor of entomology in the Agricultural University, which had prepared a fixed schedule for the application of pesticides.

As there was no direction from the government, the schedule was not even communicated to the farmers, leaving them to the mercy of local pesticides traders.

“But, the farmers are not to be blamed for it. Most of the traders supply pesticides on credit and small and marginal farmers depend on them,” AP Rytu Sangham leader and CPI MLA G Yadagiri Reddy explained. The government should have made arrangements for the supply of right pesticides, he felt.

EXCESS DOSE: Scientists who toured parts of Warangal district have found that farmers had applied pesticides far in excess of the normal dose. For instance, if a chemical is supposed to be sprayed for eight to ten times, farmers did it 20 to 25 times at some places.

Though the university suggested a combination of Metasystox and Roger alternatively in the early stage (first 45 days) of the crop, farmers used different pesticides and applied the same mix continuously. “That had made the pest resistant to pesticides,” one of the scientists explained.

Moreover, the pesticides applied by farmers, instead of wiping out pests killed certain biological predators such as Coccinellids which eradicate pests through natural process. Thus, the natural process of pest control has been impaired by the overuse of chemicals.

After the abnormal usage of pesticides, some major pests like Boll worm, Spodopetre and Heliothis had developed high degree of resistance and any amount of chemicals would not kill them.

“We are going to control the pest by using the right chemicals,” Agriculture Secretary Jannat Hussain said. Besides enlightening the farmers on the judicious use of right pesticides, the government would also focus on the bringing awareness among them to choose aright crop for right soil, he explained.

The realisation has come too late and at a very great cost.